By this gift, which is essential for living a fully Christian life, we acquire a deeper knowledge of the mysteries of faith. Jesus promises us the Spirit of truth whose mission is to illumine the whole Church. (cf Jn 16:13)
Jesus “completed and perfected Revelation, and confirmed it with divine guarantees. ... the total fact of his presence and self-manifestation, by words and works, signs and miracles and by sending the Spirit of truth.” (Second Vatican Council, “Dei Verbum”, 4)
The Apostles only understood later the full meaning of Jesus’ words. As Pope Paul VI said: “The Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church. ... who explains to the faithful the deep meaning of the teaching of Jesus and of his mystery” (“Evangelii nuntiandi”, 75).
The Holy Spirit brings us to an initial understanding of the truths of faith and then “constantly perfects faith by his gifts, so that Revelation may be more and more profoundly understood”. (Second Vatican Council, “Dei Verbum”, 5) The Holy Spirit illumines the mind with a most powerful light and enables us to see more clearly what until then was only dimly seen.
Usually, “we know some mystery for quite a while; we have heard something and thought about it; but all of a sudden we see it in a new light. It is as if we had not understood it at all until then.” (A Riaud, “The Action of the Holy Spirit in souls”, Madrid) Under the influence of the Holy Spirit supernatural truths give an indescribable joy, a foretaste of heaven.
Thanks to this gift, “God is glimpsed here below”. (St Thomas, “Summa Theologiae”, I-II, 69, 2) This happens to whoever are pure and docile to the Paraclete’s inspirations. Nevertheless, the mysteries of faith remain enveloped in a certain obscurity.
To reach this knowledge the ordinary light of faith is insufficient. We will need a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit, in the measure in which we respond to grace, our purity of heart and desire of becoming holy.
We see all things supernaturally. It brings us to reverence the greatness of God, to pay him filial affection, and to judge created things rightly. “Little by little, in the measure in which love grows in the soul, a person’s mind reflects more and more the splendour of God”, (M M Philipon, “The Gifts of the Holy Spirit”, Madrid) and becomes more familiar with His hidden mysteries.
“It is like one who, without having learned anything, or having taken the slightest trouble in order to learn to read, finds himself in possession of all existing knowledge; he has no idea how or whence it has come, since he has never done any work, even so much as was necessary for the learning of the alphabet.” (St Theresa, “Life”, 27, 8-9)
The gift of understanding enables us to grasp the deeper meaning of the Scriptures, the life of grace, the presence of Christ in each sacrament and in a real substantial way in the Blessed Eucharist. It gives us an instinct for what is supernatural in the world.
For the eyes of one of Christ’s faithful, illumined by the Holy Spirit, there is a whole new universe to be discovered. The mysteries of the Most Blessed Trinity, the Incarnation, the Redemption, and the Church become living realities affecting the day-to-day life of the Christian. Prayer becomes deeper and easier.
This gift allows us to contemplate God amidst ordinary events, pleasant or sorrowful. It is not something extraordinary given only to exceptional persons, but to whoever want to be faithful to God wherever they may be, sanctifying their joys and sorrows, toils and rest.
Let us turn to Mary, who had the fulness of grace and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and ask her to teach us to get close to, and love, the Paraclete always. We ask her to help us move on to the holiness we are called to.
Ref: cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:536-42
Atonement: “The path that leads to life.” (cf St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way”, 210)
` ` ` MAY DEVOTIONS ` ` `
Mary in Cana
“In the Gospel St John has recorded how our Lady at the wedding of Cana turned to the waiters and said: ‘Do whatever he tells you’. That’s it! Getting people to face Jesus and ask him: ‘Lord, what do you want me to do?’” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “Christ is passing by”, 149)
Let us offer our Mother: ‘Prompt obedience when we are asked to do some errand or act of service.’
Ref: Fr Charles Belmonte and Fr James Socias (Eds), “Handbook of Prayers”, 1988, p30
The Rosary, a family prayer
Each day, every member of the family should get together for recitation of the Rosary. The best time is early in the evening, preferably soonest after supper. The parents or one of the children (alternating daily) should lead the recitation. It can be recited kneeling or seated before a statue or picture of Our Lady. The Rosary could be a means of spiritually tying together all family members.
Fr Patrick Peyton, CSC, founder of the Family Rosary Crusade said: “When Mary is invited into the home and beseeched repeatedly with the words, ‘Pray for us now and at the hour of our death’, she will defend its members and protect them against the overwhelming evils of today at the two most important moments in their lives. ... The family that prays together, stays together.”
· “We wish to invite you to live a Marian life ... May the family Rosary be a balm of peace for your homes ... May the Rosary be ever in your hands; may the Marian prayer continue to sanctify your family reunion every night, and may it give the spiritual tone to your whole life.” -- Pope John XXIII
· “The Rosary ... is a form of union with God and has a most uplifting effect on the soul.” -- Pope John XXIII
Ref: Rev Joseph A Viano, SSP, “Two Months with Mary”, 1984, pp53, 54
Descent of the Holy Ghost upon Our Lady and the apostles, in the year 34 of our Lord and the forty-eighth of the age of the Virgin. — Christopher a Castro, Historia Virginis. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; http://www.bethlehemobserver.com)
Descent `of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles and Our Lady. Our Lady was 48 old. (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
Our Lady of France (1860). (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
‘Notre-Dame de France’. 1860. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
Ten Day Devotion to the Holy Spirit
Introductory Prayer
Come, O Holy Spirit! Enlighten my understanding in order to know your commands; strengthen my heart against the snares of the enemy; enkindle my will ... I have heard your voice, and I do not want to harden my heart and resist, saying, “Later ... tomorrow.” ‘Nunc coepi!’ Right now! Lest there be no tomorrow for me.
O Spirit of truth and of wisdom, Spirit of understanding and of counsel, Spirit of joy and of peace! I want whatever you want; I want because you want; I want as you want; I want whenever you want ...
Ref: St Josemaria Escrivà, “Prayer to the Holy Spirit”. In Postulation for the Cause of Beatification and Canonization, “Historical Registry of the Founder of Opus Dei” 20172, p145.
Decenary to the Holy Spirit: 3rd Day
Consideration --
Invoking the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit bore witness to Jesus in the most striking manner by proving to the world that Jesus is the Son of God, Saviour of men, Judge of the living and the dead. He led men to worship a crucified God, and to crucify all the concupiscences of their own flesh.
He made the cause of Jesus to triumph over all the malice of whoever opposed the preaching of his Gospel. He gave courage to women and children, making them despise a cruel death and suffer the most fearful torture for the love of Jesus.
Jesus had foretold these marvellous effects of the operation of the Holy Spirit, who was to guide the Church after his Ascension. He had solemnly promised to send him to the Apostles, telling them that without his help they could do nothing; with it they would work miracles of conversion and sanctification.
He desired, nevertheless, that they should ask for him and be disposed to receive him by constant and fervent prayer. The same conditions apply to us if we hope to produce any fruit in our labor for souls.
Experience must have taught us that, without the help of the Holy Spirit, all our efforts are in vain and fruitless. Hence comes the practice introduced in the Church since she began, and in prayer groups, of invoking the Holy Spirit before every important undertaking; even before all ordinary actions of the day.
After saying, ‘He will give testimony of me’, Jesus promptly added, ‘and you will give testimony in Jerusalem, in all Judaea, Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth’ (Acts 1:8). We know how faithfully the Apostles fulfilled this great and glorious mission.
They made known their Master’s name in all the world, and caused him to be adored despite all the opposition of men and devils. They destroyed the idols, and overthrew the temples of the heathens’ false gods. They changed the world from pagan to Christian, and founded the Church of Jesus Christ, which twenty centuries have neither changed nor shaken.
Those who worked all these miracles were twelve poor, weak and ignorant fishermen. Why did Jesus choose such instruments to lay the foundations of his Church?
1) To prove that it is a divine, not a human, institution, claiming therefore our obedience and submission; 2) that our weakness and unworthiness should not deter us from undertaking great things for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
Ref: cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp276-8
Mary and the Spirit at the foot of the Cross
The Spirit was not only present at the birth of Christ; but also accompanied Mary during the growth of Jesus, even in the most difficult and mysterious moments when she had need to ‘meditate’ and interiorize these events so that she could become more deeply aware of their importance and significance (see Lk 2:19, 49-51).
‘I am convinced that no man can exist capable of suffering as much as the Virgin suffered.’ (Nicholas Cabasilas, “Homily on the Assumption”, 11) Even at the foot of the Cross Mary had need of special assistance from the Spirit. She did not leave when faced with the harshness of the death of the Son, but pronounced her 'yes' in the Spirit and became the mother of those for whom Christ offered his life.
In the ‘Upper Room’, afterwards, Mary invokes the Father with her supplications until he sends his Spirit: “But since it had pleased God not to manifest solemnly the mystery of the salvation of the human race before he would pour forth the Spirit promised by Christ, we see the apostles before the day of the Pentecost ‘preserving with one mind in prayer with the women and Mary the Mother of Jesus, and with his brethren’ (Acts 1:14); and we also see Mary by her prayers imploring the gift of the Spirit, who had already overshadowed her in the Anunciation.” (“Lumen Gentium”, 59)
The Virgin, completely penetrated and transformed by the Spirit, is ‘vivified’ by him and ‘redeemed’ even from corporal decay and ‘assumed’ into heaven. By her sublime holiness and radical transformation through the Spirit, Mary had already, during her life, a ‘spiritualized body, that is, one transformed by the Spirit’.(Ibid)
She was so completely penetrated by him ‘who is the Lord and gives life’ that she possessed the source of immortal life. The Virgin had that life in the Spirit while she lived on earth, although hidden. However, when her earthly life ended, she radiated immortality in the same way as Christ did after his death. (Nicholas Cabasilas, op cit, 10-11)
Ref: cf Theological-Historical Commission, “The Holy Spirit, Lord and Giver of Life”, 82-3, 1997
The Spirit, Mankind and the Cosmos
The Apostolic Constitution “Gaudium et Spes” ('GS') of Vatican II pictures the presence of the Holy Spirit in the world as a mysterious agent of evangelization that leads all and everybody to the achievement and fulfilment of the mystery of Christ.
He acts in the heart of all to enable them to adhere to the Paschal mystery ('GS' 22); He accompanies the life of the Church and guides the evolution of all the evangelical ferments towards the good: “The Spirit of evolution of God, who, with providence, directs the course of time and renews the face of the earth, assists this development” ('GS' 26);
He urges interiorly and incessantly the heart of the human person ('GS' 11); leads history to its fulfilment.
It is the Holy Spirit that touches man’s heart to renew and lift, opening human feelings to a filial relationship of prayer. Thus, the cultic and cultural wealth can be assumed and clarified in a liturgy of the Spirit within the Catholic Church. Cosmos and history are introduced into the dynamics of the whole liturgical symbolism, anticipating the new creation and the new humanity.
Well-known is the expression of St Ambrose, quoted also by St Thomas Aquinas: “Every truth, and whoever says it, comes from the Spirit.” ...
Ref: cf “The Spirit is Lord and Gives Life”, Pauline’s Publishing House, 1997, p22
Concluding Prayer
Holy and divine Spirit! Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, your spouse, bring the fullness of your gifts into our hearts. Comforted and strengthened by you, may we live according to your Will and may we die praising your infinite mercy. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Ref: Fr James Socias, et al (Editors), “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p2080
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